I explained that in the Regan era, five dollars could buy me four hamburgers, a Big Gulp, and a few hours at the video arcade. To help drive my lesson on inflation home, my bride who was listening in at the time, threw in her two cents by telling my daughter, "Wow.. Daddy is really old".
Where have all the arcades gone?
The home video game market has all but killed video arcades. Sure there were home video game systems back in the early 80s, but the graphics and sound couldn't hold a candle to the giant CPUs inside of the old stand up arcade games. I saw the decline of video arcades coming a long time ago when I bought my first 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System in the late 80s. My friends and I immediately started spending more time in front of the TV, having video game tournaments for hours on end.
I can't begin to count how many quarters I pumped into video games as a kid. Seeing as twenty five cents was still a decent amount of money in the early eighties, there was plenty of motivation to improve your game play skills, and in turn squeezing as much play time as you possibly could from every game. Heck, I used to be able to play Donkey Kong and Mario Brothers for about forty minutes on one quarter, and I was by no means the best player around.
The home video game market has all but killed video arcades. Sure there were home video game systems back in the early 80s, but the graphics and sound couldn't hold a candle to the giant CPUs inside of the old stand up arcade games. I saw the decline of video arcades coming a long time ago when I bought my first 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System in the late 80s. My friends and I immediately started spending more time in front of the TV, having video game tournaments for hours on end.
I can't begin to count how many quarters I pumped into video games as a kid. Seeing as twenty five cents was still a decent amount of money in the early eighties, there was plenty of motivation to improve your game play skills, and in turn squeezing as much play time as you possibly could from every game. Heck, I used to be able to play Donkey Kong and Mario Brothers for about forty minutes on one quarter, and I was by no means the best player around.
indeed it was
Most arcades had a certain feel to them, and anyone who was a kid in the 80s knows what I'm talking about. Upon crossing the arcade threshold, your senses were immediately bombarded with a multitude of sights and sounds. There was even a 'smell' those old arcades had. I believe it was the smell of the CPUs running and venting the heat slowly out of the back of the machines. I can still hear the "wakka wakka wakka" blaring from the PAC-MAN game, the sound of pinball machine bells and bumpers going wild, and the reverberation of skee balls infinitely rolling towards their targets. Within a few minutes, the sounds slowly sorted themselves out one by one, until you were immersed in a cornucopia of harmonious intonation. Air conditioning was a must to prolong the life of the video games, so the air temperature of most arcades was very comfortable. They were also usually dimly lit so as to reduce glare on the video game screens. Most of the arcades I visited were kept very tidy, and were always clean smelling. Arcades if designed properly, reeled you in and made you want to stay until your pockets were empty.
W.C. Franks
The very best arcades could facilitate the needs of the average kid for most of the day, as many had snack bars or concession stands. One such arcade that was a hangout of my friends and I for most of the 80s, was a joint called "W.C. Franks" in my hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado. One side of the establishment housed a kitchen that sold nachos, hot dogs, chips, etc., and an eating area with a jukebox that was always filled with the latest music. The other side of the room was dedicated entirely to video games and pinball machines.
The very best arcades could facilitate the needs of the average kid for most of the day, as many had snack bars or concession stands. One such arcade that was a hangout of my friends and I for most of the 80s, was a joint called "W.C. Franks" in my hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado. One side of the establishment housed a kitchen that sold nachos, hot dogs, chips, etc., and an eating area with a jukebox that was always filled with the latest music. The other side of the room was dedicated entirely to video games and pinball machines.
Many an afternoon and evening was spent at W.C. Franks with my buddies during our high school years between 1985 and 1988. I even took my wife there on one of our first dates. I ordered us a couple of foot-long chili dogs, and some nachos with sliced pickled jalapenos. It was the first time she had ever eaten jalapenos, and she's been hooked on them ever since. Vivid memories such as this one are jam packed in the recesses of my mind.
Directly next door was another establishment called 'Odyssey'. A lot of my friends frequented that joint. It had some video games, but pool tables as well. I would go there to have a freshly made cherry Coke before they started mass producing the stuff in bottles and cans. A cherry coke made with cherry syrup and fountain cola puts the bottled and canned stuff to shame. In fact, I was totally let down the first time I tried Coca-Cola's product after enjoying the version from Odyssey for years.
I love reminiscing about the recent and not so recent past. In particular, memories about Americana and pop culture from my youth. Things we experience during childhood and our younger years tend to make a bigger impression on us, because everything is new and exciting to us. This helps to make for some sharp and detailed memories that stay with us for our entire lives. That being said, I feel bad for my kids sometimes. I just don't see many parallels in the era they grew up in, to the prolific period of pop culture I experienced during the 70s and 80s.
However, my son is already reminiscing about his childhood in the 90s, and my daughters are reminiscing about the 2010s. I may not think they had as wondrous of a childhood that I did, but I'm happy they look back on their childhood as a simpler, exciting, and happy time.